Introducing PayPal as a Payment Option for Rallies and Rendezvous’
by Gordon Desbarats (4901)
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You now have the option of using PayPal to submit your rally fee when you register online through the website. For those of you not familiar with PayPal, here is a short introduction.
PayPal, the company, provides a secure way to transfer funds between two entities – usually a buyer (you) and a seller (the event Registrar). When you select the PayPal option and submit your registration electronically, PayPal works behind the scenes to take the funds from your desired source (bank account or credit card), and then deposits it to the Registrar’s PayPal account. The Registrar can then transfer the funds to the Unit’s bank account. The Registrar receives only the funds along with your registration information – none of your personal financial information is passed along.
For those of you who haven’t used PayPal before, you must first set up an account identified by your email address and secured with a password at www.PayPal.com. This is where PayPal will store the bank and/or credit card numbers that it will use as the source of funds for your payment. You can store more than one source of funds and each time you use PayPal, it will ask you which source you want to use. (I have both my Canadian and US dollar credit cards stored in my account. I find a credit card to be most convenient, since I don’t actually have to pay the amount until my card payment date, and if something goes wrong, my card issuer can correct it before I pay out any funds.)
Once your account is set up, you can choose the PayPal option when you submit your electronic registration. Through some Webmaster magic, you will automatically be presented with a PayPal form showing the amount to be paid and asking for your email address and PayPal password. You enter those, confirm the transaction, and you’re done! It’s quick and convenient. No need to navigate to another website, and no need to provide bank or credit card info every time. Since PayPal knows your email address, it will send you a confirmation almost immediately. And since PayPal is the only entity receiving your financial and password information, this information is protected.
While this is both secure and convenient for both the member and the Club, there is a downside – PayPal needs to make money. They do this by charging a fee for each transaction. The Executive decided that this fee will be passed on to you when the PayPal option is chosen. The amount works out to $3.20 for each $100.00 of the event fee – so for a typical rally, $5.00 to $6.00. You can compare this to the cost of a cheque plus postage or e-transfer (usually $1.50 to you, and $1.50 to the Club after a small, set number of transfers). Bringing cash to the event has no additional cost to you other than the bank withdrawal fee, but is the least convenient for the Registrar, and we want to make his/her life as easy as possible, don’t we?